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Integrated Wisdom

What Does it Mean to be Retired?

The problem with working only for money, out of necessity or not, is commitment. Retirees who work only for money are motivated by external rewards, that is, money, rather than internal ones, such as feeling good about themselves. When we’re only externally motivated, we don’t feel psychologically connected to what we do, the organization, or our co-workers, nor do we get satisfaction from a task well done. If we don’t feel more socially connected, valued, or productive, a job won’t make us feel any better than if we weren’t working.

Working just out of boredom won’t do much for you either. This is somewhat counterintuitive; if someone is bored in retirement, working should be the cure. But this isn’t the case, and it may have something to do with the bored retirees’ mind-set. They tend to take a job to escape the undirected, unstructured world of retirement rather than as a means of achieving a more fulfilling life. It’s a very different thing to look to escape an unpleasant situation, such as boredom, than it is to take on something because you seek its rewards.

So, to summarize, working is a perfectly acceptable way to live in retirement, but one has to be careful going down this path. It has to be done for the right reasons and with the right frame of mind. The focus should be on the psychological rewards of working – a sense of being useful and productive, as well as an opportunity for being socially connected. At the same time, the job has to be such that it allows you to avoid feeling stressed, out of control, or un-retired.

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